A woman mauled by a brown bear managed to survived the attack – by playing dead.

Jessica Gamboa, of Sacramento, California, was jogging alone on a remote road near a military base in Anchorage, Alaska when a brown bear approached with her two cubs – and attacked.

Mrs Gamboa had gone for a run with her husband, who is assigned to the Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, but they had become separated.

In an interview from her hospital bed at the base, Mrs Gamboa said she immediately submitted to the bear when it became aggressive, playing dead as she was scratched and bitten, just as she had always been told she should as a little girl.

The action likely saved her life.

Combat medic Sgt. Collin Gillikin, from Rockford, Michigan, rescued Mrs Gamboa after the mauling, which left her with cuts to her neck and limbs, neck fractures and a torn ear, and rushed her to the base hospital.

‘I felt completely like I was beaten half to death,’ Mrs Gamboa said.

She was later transferred to Alaska Native Medical Center and released on Thursday.

Mark Sledge, senior conservation law enforcement officer at the base, said Mrs Gamboa responded just as she should have to the bear attack, by showing she was not a threat.

‘All that sow was worried about was the protection of her babies,’ said Mr Sledge.